dreams....

Commit yourself to a dream. Then figure out how to get there. Don't wait till you are ready. One too many dreams have been lost this way. 

The glass-wall approach

So, I learnt this neat trick in my Racquetball class last Thursday. This is how it happened. I wasn't feeling very comfortable with my backhand, so the instructor asked me to practice on my own for a while instead of playing games with others. He left the court and stood outside watching me practice against the wall for a while and then he left. I wasn't doing so great at the start but kept improving slowly. After a while I noticed him coming towards my court, so I assumed he would stand outside and observe me again. I felt a bit tensed and tried quite hard this time and I did great. I didn't look back at all and just kept hitting those shots one after the other assuming he was still watching. I paused after a while and turned back and smiled at how I had improved in such a short time, but he was gone! And all this while, I was putting my best in assuming he was still there. That's when I learnt the trick...if it really makes a difference to you, why not try living your life assuming that someone whose opinion you value is watching you all the while. What would you want him to see? Who would that be? Neat trick, huh? Remember, whatever works in Racquetball works in life as well. Keep playing!

Little taught, little learnt

This may very well be the last semester of formal education for me. While learning is an integral part of everyday life, this may be the last time I attend a class in the University. It will be Racquetball this time. Rather a nice finish to my geeky life so far. Hopefully, rather than an end to education, this will mark a start to a new life....a life that focuses on an overall balance of health, wealth and wisdom.

However excited I am to learn Racquetball, I am quite scared to go and play it in a classroom full of adults. I am really scared of making a fool of myself. This is when I got to thinking that unusual as it may seem, how come in the last 21 years of my formal education, no one has been able to teach me that it is OK to make a fool of oneself once in a while. I mean it's really OK....to fail, for instance and to not learn something as soon you get your hands on it. Another lesson, which should have followed this one, is the importance of doing something daily to attain perfection. Flew right by, all these years! Twenty-fucking-one of them! How? I mean seriously how?

Seems like the education of two amazing countries just failed. Big names of the places I have been just rubbing their noses in mud. I really wish there was a similar system of education. One which may fail to teach you all the history of the world, or the best of European literature or twenty different languages, but somehow drilled it into you a very very simple basic lesson for life.....

1. You will fail. In fact, you must! It's OK. It really is. Believe it or not!

2. Then, you pull your act together and get to it. Not once, not twice, not a thousand times, but every fucking day of our life. You just get to it with your whole heart and mind and soul, until one fine day you do win. And trust me, you will.

It's so simple! My new "life's" resolution is that...Try your hand at whatever your heart wants. You'll either get what you want or you'll learn a thing or two about life. Please don't quit. You do indeed lose all of the shots you don't take. Put your heart and soul into it. You can do it! Whatever it may be, you can do it!

You'll fail in life, many many times, but by working on it day-by-day you'll achieve what your heart truly desires.

Lessons from the semester that just went by

Never lose sight of:

1. Where you are from

2. Where you are going

All fear is irrational! I mean all! Fear only arises from the lack of understanding or comprehending the situation. If you understood what was happening or why it was happening, you will show other emotions!

Spring is a not a season, it is an emotion. Best felt in absence of fear.

Follow the sign in airplanes. First place an oxygen mask on your face, then help others! Always!!!

Smile often! Bake often!

Do not let others pull your spirits down.

Learn, because the other option is to fail.

Don't be a cookie cutter. Be a scientist.

- Wisdom from Gretchen, at 8 pm in Char Fac.

To summarize

I will like to take this moment to very briefly state the things which should guide me where to go next, live, settle down etc. I have decided that before deciding where to settle, I will look for only two things:

1. Meaningful Labor

2. Love

If your work is motivating enough to make you wake up at 7 and come to work at 9, it is worth it, do it with all your love and dedication.

-Palak

Planting Hope

Winter is approaching slowly. I brought all the plants inside today from the balcony and potted them in bigger pots. They have plenty of space and sunlight and soil and water and air but there is this doubt. It's their first winter and I don't know if they will survive. I have somewhat a similar doubt about my life too. I dont know if I will survive the next big cold hurdle of my career as a scientist. People say that basil will be fine indoors, its a weed. It's ironic how unwanted plants grow just fine in any season without any love or care, but the prettiest of the Crotons fade fast. There are some other tiny plants in my pots. I am sure they are weeds because I did not plant them. They are tiny but sometimes they get flooded in rains and still come up nice and bright when the water dries. Sturdy little things they are! I potted them in their small separate pots too because as I told my room-mate, I don't know who they are or were they came from, now that they are in my house, they are my responsibility. I can't control their roots and if weeds are what they meant to be when they grow up, weed they will be but they will the most well-fed, well-cared for weeds anyone has ever known. My job is just to help them be who ever they are meant to be! As Guru Granth Sahib says, He who feeds the birds and trees, will not let you stay hungry. You will be loved. You will look pretty. You will survive the winter. Have faith.